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Behind what appears to be a makeshift fence, a woman carries a sack of grain on her head as she stops to buy some local pastries at a roadside stall in Wau, South Sudan, on February 1, 2020. About 13,000 civilians were sheltered there under UN protection adjacent to the field office of the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), just outside Wau town. They had fled massacres and burnings of villages during a ruinous six-year conflict between forces loyal to the government of South Sudan President Salva Kiir and those of his political rival, former Vice President Riek Machar. A string of failed truces and hollow promises has spawned distrust in the two rival leaders now facing intense pressure to uphold a permanent peace agreement. (Photo by TONY KARUMBA/AFP via Getty Images)

In South Sudan, Keep UN Peacekeepers Focused on Evolving Risks for Civilians

The transfer of "protection of civilian" sites to the government amid continuing threats requires extra vigilance from UNMISS.
The outside columns and relief of the US Treasury Department building in Washington, DC, on July 22, 2019.

Sanctions and Corruption: Assessing Risk to Improve Design

Increased corruption is a common unintended consequences of sanctions. Alongside considering humanitarian consequences, the U.S. should account for corruption risks, and ways to…
Syrian campaigner Wafa Mustafa sits among pictures of victims of the Syrian regime as she holds a photo of her father, during a protest outside a trial of two Syrian alleged former intelligence officers accused for crimes against humanity, in the first trial of its kind to emerge from the Syrian conflict, on June 4, 2020 in Koblenz, western Germany. Wafa was part of the resistance against the Syrian government and had to flee Syria when her father was arrested. She came to Germany in 2016. (Photo by THOMAS LOHNES/AFP via Getty Images)

Crimes Against Humanity: Little Progress on Treaty as UN Legal Committee Concludes its Work

Despite a majority of States favoring a clear mandate and timeline to discuss the draft in the next year, a few countries essentially exercised vetoes.
A refugee man and child transport water containers by cattle-drawn cart in Awaradi Refugee camp in eastern Niger, on December 11, 2019. (Photo by Giles Clarke/Getty Images)

Bringing Climate and Terrorism Together at the UN Security Council – Proceed with Caution

The open debate creates risks that counterterrorism will come to dominate the climate security and environmental peacebuilding fields.
Satellite on planet background - 3d rendered image.

The Threat from Outer Space: Russia Tests Kinetic DA-ASAT Weapon

Russia’s unannounced anti-satellite missile test raises important legal and policy questions about the prohibition on the use of force in outer space.
Members of the Kenyan polices General Service Unit (GSU) take part in a joint exercise hosted by the US embassy to build counter-terrorism capabilities, in Nairobi, Kenya, on October 30, 2021. They wear camouflage and headgear and carry large guns while walking past a truck with police lights.

An Undefined Defining Moment: Marking 20 Years of Counterterrorism Without Ever Agreeing What Terrorism Is

UN Security Council Resolution 1373 in 2001 created a sprawling global system that, rather than solving the problem, spawned widespread abuse.
President of Kosovo Vjosa Osmani-Sadriu, President of Albania Ilir Meta, President of Croatia Zoran Milanovic, Serb member of Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina's Milorad Dodik, President of Slovenia Borut Pahor, Bosniak member of Presidency of Bosnia and Hercegovina Sefik Dzaferovic, President of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic, President of North Macedonia Stevo Pendarovski and Presidend of Montenegro Milo Dukoanovic pose for pictures at a park during the Brdo-Brijuni Process meeting in Brdo pri Kranju, Slovenia, on May 17, 2021.

US Leadership Matters to Avoid New Violence in the Balkans

It's time for Washington to recognize the role of Serb nationalism in fomenting renewed tensions across the region.
A general view of participants at the 16th session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland.

Failure to Renew Yemen Investigative Mechanism Shows Costs of US Absence from Human Rights Council

The US has regained a seat on the HRC - but its recent absence has weakened the human rights landscape overall.
Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs Bert Koenders hosts the large international consultations with representatives of the Global Counterterrorism Forum (GCTF) and the Anti ISIS coalition in the fight against terror In The Hague, January 11, 2016. The representatives sit in a large room around tables arranged into a square. Large screens show projections of the minister speaking.

Watchlisting the World: Digital Security Infrastructures, Informal Law, and the “Global War on Terror”

The Global Counterterrorism Forum's new "toolkit" ignores input, tracks US practice to dangerously expand the unaccountable post-9/11 system.
US government's special envoy for Western Balkans Matthew Palmer poses with members of Bosnia and Herzegovina's tripartite presidency, Milorad Dodik, Zeljko Komsic, and Sefik Dzaferovic in Sarajevo on July 5, 2021 as Palmer held several meetings with national political leaders in Bosnia as well as state officials.

Peace Is Threatened Again in Bosnia, A Quarter Century after Dayton

Separatist provocations pose the greatest danger to the country's peace and cohesion since the accords were forged 26 years ago.
Tunisian soldiers part of the UN peacekeeping Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) depart a plane at Banguis airport on September 21, 2021. Some wear masks, others do not. Two greet each other in a fist bump.

How the UN Can Strengthen its Peacekeeping Mission in the Central African Republic Amid a Changed Conflict

A Security Council divided over rights violations by Russian paramilitaries must maintain civilian protection as a priority.
Relatives and friends attend the funeral of Sonya Gregorio and her son Frank Gregorio on December 27, 2020 in Paniqui, Tarlac province, Philippines. Six people carry a coffin, and banner behind shows their faces and reads, “Justice for Sonia R. Gregorio; Frank Anthony R. Gregorio; Our condolences and sympathy to the bereaved family from Rev. Peter M. Gregorio”

Toward a Treaty on Crimes Against Humanity: A View from the Philippines and a Region of `Non-Interference’

Such a convention could help dispel a culture of impunity by reaffirming the gravity of such atrocities and filling gaps left by the Rome Statute.
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